Moving from one operating system to another can be a grind \u2014 like watching sausage being made. Get ready for the long process of moving on from Windows 10 to its successor.<\/b>
\nThe beta testing of Windows 11 will be starting soon and its release reminds me a lot of the transition from Windows XP to Vista. Or Vista to Windows 7. We\u2019ve been living in a world where approximately 75% of computers are on Windows 10 with most of the others running Windows 7. Soon, we\u2019ll be in a world where most PCs will be running an operating system (Windows 10) that will be still getting serviced until at least 2025. So as you take in all the hype over Windows 11, one thing to keep in mind is this: it will be a long migration process to Windows 11. Another thing to remember is that we are just at the beginning of the sausage-making process for Windows 11. The ingredients are still being measured and identified, the cook is still in the kitchen testing how the dish tastes and users are already complaining about some of the menu changes being introduced in Windows 11. For example, Windows 11 will require you to log into a Microsoft account when setting up Windows 11 Home. While the idea behind this mandate may be to increase password security \u2014 especially when cracking and hacking passwords is one way attackers come after us \u2014 the requirement is causing a few to balk. I\u2019ve already seen people such as Joel Hruska say they will never log into a Windows computer with a Windows account. That said, folks have already figured out \u201cwhen Windows 11 Home asks users to join an Internet network, a simple \u2018Alt + F4\u2019 shortcut closes the prompt and the screen goes straight to the local account creation page.\u201d At least for the beta, people that love to fiddle with computers have found a workaround. So why is Microsoft mandating this? It wants people to stop using (and re-using) the same password to login and on various websites. The reuse of passwords has led to some of the biggest ransomware attacks as attackers figured out that most people don\u2019t properly handle credentials. Microsoft wants to mandate passwordless logins to consumers from day one. Will that be in place when Windows 11 is released to the public? We\u2019ll see. The next high hurdle everyone is complaining about is the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip. requirement This is a specially designed chip that assists with security surrounding credentials. During the boot process, the boot code that\u2019s loaded (including firmware and the OS components) can be measured and recorded in the TPM and verified that they haven\u2019t been tampered with. Microsoft is mandating that systems have TPM based on 2.0 specifications. Many PCs in recent years that shipped with TPM 1.2 enabled can also upgrade to 2.0. Sometimes this process is made easy by simply starting the boot sequence and changing the support from 1.2 to 2.0. In other cases, TPM 2.0 has to be enabled with a firmware update. In testing this process with my own HP desktop and a Lenovo laptop, I found I needed a firmware update for the HP, but only a boot-sequence change for the Lenovo. Both processes also required that I de-encrypt the hard drive first, then re-encrypt my data. The mandate for TPM 2.0 arises from very specific requirements: the module allows for what\u2019s called secure-core computers. The idea of \u201cDynamic Root of Trust for Measurement\u201d (DRTM) has been talked about for years and is the underlying trust mechanism for Intel\u2019s Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) and AMD\u2019s Secure Virtual Machine (SVM) technology. It uses platform-level enhancements to provide run-time protection and guarantee. If your computer was bought in the last few years, it may already have a TPM chip. But it\u2019s either not enabled or it uses the older 1.2 version. We\u2019ve already seen reports that prices of third-party TPM 2.0-capable chips have increased in price. From what I\u2019ve seen, the typical blocker is not the TPM chip, but the processor. When it comes to Windows 11, worry more about what processor you have and how old your computer is, less about TPM. With last week\u2019s flurry of stories about Windows 11, a lot of people think it’s already been released. We are a long way from that happening. These requirements may change \u2014 and probably will. But I\u2019ll bet they won\u2019t change so that every single computer currently running Windows 10 will be able to install Windows 11. Microsoft is drawing a line in the sand and I think the big reason is ransomware. We have to stop the scourge of ransomware \u2014 and doing so won\u2019t be easy. It will require outlawing ransom payments and increasing the security of our computers. Clearly, Microsoft wants computers to be more secure, but will these mandates stay in place? Remember, we\u2019ve just started the beta process when the software sausage will be made. It won\u2019t be pretty. And during the process even underpowered machines will be likely to run Windows 11, even if they\u2019re shut out later on. In the meantime, if you are interested in seeing what the next version of Windows is like and want to help guide that process, you can sign up as a Windows insider. There are a lot of decisions still to be made \u2014 and a lot of sausage to grind.<\/p>\n